By The News Service of Florida
State lawmakers and members of Congress will be able to visit a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades on Saturday, after some Democratic legislators last week were denied access to inspect the facility.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Wednesday sent an email inviting “congressional and state legislators” to tour the detention center, which state officials hurriedly erected as part of an effort to help President Donald Trump’s deportation of undocumented immigrants. An email from the division said the tour is restricted to “Florida’s state legislators and members of Congress.”
The detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials, reportedly can house up to 3,000 detainees and is located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a remote site used for flight training.
Lawmakers seeking to tour the facility have until noon Friday to respond to the invitation. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, was among a group of Democratic state legislators who tried to tour the facility on July 3 but were not allowed inside.
“We’re glad to see public pressure forcing the state of Florida to open its doors for a scheduled tour of the Everglades detention center. But let’s be clear: this isn’t a field trip — it’s oversight. The law grants us the right to enter these facilities unannounced, at any time. A scheduled 90-minute tour is not a substitute for lawful access and long-term legislative accountability,” Eskamani said in a statement Wednesday.
Democratic U.S. House members Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, Darren Soto, Maxwell Frost and Jared Moskowitz said they already were planning “an unannounced oversight visit” to the facility on Saturday. “We do not need permission to conduct lawful oversight. This sanitized tour is not real oversight,” the Democrats said in a statement Wednesday. The group pointed to “reports of horrific living conditions, rampant denial of due process, the risk of death and destruction from a hurricane, plus irreversible damage to the Everglades and tribal lands.”
But the Democrats said they intend to participate in the tour to inspect the facility and speak with detainees and security workers.
Republicans have touted the facility, with state Attorney General James Uthmeier, in a social-media post this week, calling it a “one-stop-shop deportation center.” The Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed a federal lawsuit to try to halt the facility. The groups contend it threatens sensitive wetlands and environmentally protected species in the Everglades and the surrounding Big Cypress National Preserve.
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Good to see the looniest illiberals in the state having a conniption over this.
Keep your foot on the gas pedal, America’s Governor!
I’ll never understand why people who want to immigrate to America don’t do it LEGALLY. Many of this country’s early immigrants did exactly that. They didn’t sneak-in.
Yes, it may take a while. Yes. it might cost some money. Yes, you may have to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hoops and fill-out a lot of paperwork. And yes, you may have to be patient and persevere through the difficulties. However, if you believe it’s worth doing and really, really, really want to do it, you’ll move forward and start the process.
When I just getting started in life, I decided I wanted to live financially-comfortable without being dependent on other people for my needs. It took me, and I’m sure many others, almost a lifetime to achieve that goal.
Anything worthwhile in life is worth the time it takes achieve it…..LEGALLY.
@Earnest P Worrel –
“DSP, they have no right to be here.”
It has been established that US citizens, as well as people who are working within the legal system are being caught up by the detainments. Similarly, people jaywalk all of the time, yet we do not allocate resources because they are breaking the law. Stop pretending this is about being about law and order.
“They are paid under the table.”
Some. Many pass e-verify though, which means they are paying taxes, though will not be able to collect the benefits such as social security. In any case, this should be a rationale to arrest employers, but this is not happening. You should ask yourself why not? Why not arrest the board of YUM Brands?
“They have no employee protections.”
Oh boy. DeSantis signed a bill this last session that literally prohibit local workplace standards requiring drinking water on the job site. (an easy to verify statement) Are you suddenly in favor of unions too? The idea that somehow conservatives aren’t in love at will state on steroids is such a joke. It is always hypocrisy with conservatives.
“Businesses are breaking the law with cheap labor they can deny having and don’t have to support if they get hurt on the job.”
Do not disagree. Where are the prisons and sentences for the people who run YUM brands, or the meatpacking plants in the midwest, or the farms up and down the country that rely on illegal immigrants?
“Just admit you like having a cheap, servile, wage-slave class and you can’t imagine it any other way.”
American’s aren’t taking these jobs. If they do, everything becomes more expensive. I’m OK with that if I get to keep my soul.
“The bible does have passages on fair treatment of slaves, so maybe you are being biblical…”
Jesus is not in favor of Alligator Alley.
DSP, they have no right to be here.
They are paid under the table.
They have no employee protections.
Businesses are breaking the law with cheap labor they can deny having and don’t have to support if they get hurt on the job.
Just admit you like having a cheap, servile, wage-slave class and you can’t imagine it any other way. The bible does have passages on fair treatment of slaves, so maybe you are being biblical…
Just goes to show you, if we actually wanted to house the homeless, we could do it pretty easily. Instead, we have chosen to house the brown people, people who already had jobs and places to sleep because it makes racists feel better. In a crazy coincidence, the people paid to build Alligator Alley were substantial DeSantis contributors. What a surprise!
Jesus would weep at the way we are treating other humans if he was there to pay attention. For shame. For shame.
Wonderer, like when he cast the money changers from the temple because they didn’t belong there?
BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T BELONG THERE
WOW!
Some folks really need to think about what they are saying. Maybe talk to your pastor about “What would Jesus do.
The state should give them a tour, a box lunch, and then let them pick their own cage and keep them there for gp.
Someone should tell Democrats it is okay to cheer for America.
Did not the Biden administration let them all come in illegally?
I can’t wait to hear all the LIES those Democrats will spew after their Tour.
Democrats are pitching a fit about Alligator Alcatraz but they had no issue with these illegals committing heinous crimes against our U.S. citizens. Whose side are they on anyway? Certainly not on Americans’ side.